--- a/src/netanim/doc/animation.rst Fri Dec 16 18:12:27 2011 -0800
+++ b/src/netanim/doc/animation.rst Sun Dec 18 15:13:05 2011 -0500
@@ -4,97 +4,45 @@
---------
Animation is an important tool for network simulation. While |ns3| does not
-contain a default graphical animation tool, it does provide an animation
-interface for use with stand-alone animators. One such animator called NetAnim,
-presently supporting packet flow animation for point-to-point links, has been
-developed. Other animators and visualization tools are in development; they may
-make use of the existing animation interface or may develop new ones,
+contain a default graphical animation tool, we currently have two ways to provide
+animation, namely using the PyViz method or the NetAnim method.
+The PyViz method is described in http://www.nsnam.org/wiki/index.php/PyViz.
+The NetAnim method is described in detail at http://www.nsnam.org/wiki/index.php/NetAnim.
+We will describe the NetAnim method briefly here.
-Animation interface
+AnimationInterface
*******************
-The animation interface uses underlying |ns3| trace sources to construct a
-timestamped ASCII file that can be read by a standalone animator. The animation
-interface in |ns3| currently only supports point-to-point links; however, we
-hope to support other link types such as CSMA and wireless in the near future.
-A snippet from a sample trace file is shown below.::
-
- 0.0 N 0 4 5.5
- 0.0 N 1 7 5.5
- 0.0 N 2 2.5 2.90192
-
- ...
-
- 0.0 L 0 1
- 0.0 L 0 2
- 0.0 L 0 3
-
- ...
+The class "AnimationInterface" under "src/netanim" uses underlying |ns3| trace sources
+to construct a timestamped ASCII file in XML format that can be read by a standalone animator
+named "NetAnim".
- Running the simulation
- 0.668926 P 11 1 0.66936 0.669926 0.67036
- 0.67036 P 1 0 0.670794 0.67136 0.671794
- 0.671794 P 0 6 0.672227 0.672794 0.673227
-
- ...
+Generating XML trace files for use in NetAnim
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+Apply the following statements before the "Simulator::Run ()" statement:::
-The tracefile describes where nodes and links should be placed at the top of the
-file. Following this placement, the packet events are shown. The format for node
-placement, link placement and packet events is shown below.
+ AnimationInterface anim ("animation.xml")
-* Node placement: <time of placement> <N for node> <node id> <x position> <y
- position>
-* Link placement: <time of placement> <L for link> <node1 id> <node2 id>
-* Packet events: <time of first bit tx> <P for packet> <source node>
- <destination node> <time of last bit tx> <time of first bit rx> <time of last
- bit rx>
+where "animation.xml" is any arbitrary file name.
+It is important to ensure that your wscript includes the "netanim" module.
+Example as in: src/netanim/examples/wscript. Also include the header
+[#include "ns3/netanim-module.h"] in your test program
-To get started using the animation interface, several example scripts have been
-provided to show proper use. These examples can be found in examples/animation.
-The example scripts use the animation interface as well as topology helpers in
-order to automatically place the nodes and generate the custom trace. It is
-important to note that if a topology helper is not used with its provided
-BoundingBox method, which automatically calculates the nodes' canvas positions,
-the nodes must be placed manually by aggregating a CanvasLocation to the node.
-An example use of CanvasLocation can be found in any of the topology helpers.
-Additionally, a simple example of placing a node is shown below:::
+The examples under "src/netanim/examples" illustrate this. The sample wscript is at
+"src/netanim/examples/wscript".
+
+Lets take an example: "src/netanim/examples/star-animation.cc". To run the example:::
+
+ ./waf --run "star-animation"
- // assuming a node container m_hub exists and
- // contains at least one node.
- // we grab this node and associate a
- // CanvasLocation to it, in order for the
- // animation interface to place the node
- Ptr<Node> hub = m_hub.Get (0);
- Ptr<CanvasLocation> hubLoc = hub->GetObject<CanvasLocation> ();
- if (hubLoc == 0)
- {
- hubLoc = CreateObject<CanvasLocation> ();
- hub->AggregateObject (hubLoc);
- }
- Vector hubVec (5, 7);
- hubLoc->SetLocation (hubVec);
+This will generate an xml file "star-animation.xml" in the same directory. This XML file
+contains the information required by the standalone animator "NetAnim" to produce the required
+animation.
-Finally, after the simulation has been set up and the nodes have been placed,
-the animation interface is used to start the animation, which writes the custom
-trace file. Below is an example of how to set up and start the animation
-interface.::
- AnimationInterface anim;
- // the animation interface can be set up to write
- // to a socket, if a port > 0 is specified
- // see doxygen for more information
- if (port > 0)
- {
- anim.SetServerPort (port);
- }
- else if (!animFile.empty ())
- {
- // if a file name is specified,
- // the trace is written to the file.
- // otherwise, it is directed to stdout
- anim.SetOutputFile (animFile);
- }
- anim.StartAnimation ();
+Parts of the XML
+++++++++++++++++
+This is described in detail at http://www.nsnam.org/wiki/index.php/NetAnim#Parts_of_the_XML
NetAnim
*******
@@ -118,64 +66,6 @@
changes the granularity of the time step for the animation. Finally, there is a
quit button to stop the simulation and quit the animator.
-Prerequisites
-+++++++++++++
-
-The animator requires the Qt4 development packages. If you are using a Debian or
-Ubuntu Linux distribution, you can get the following package: qt4-dev-tools
-
-This should install everything you need to compile and build NetAnim. If you
-are using an Red Hat based distribution, look for similar qt4 packages (or
-libqt4*) and install these using yum. Mac users should install the binaries:
-`<http://qt.nokia.com/downloads>`_.
-
-Make sure to download the binary package; look for a link to something without
-the word "src" or "debug" in the download filename. These will be the library
-binaries you need.
-
-Downloading NetAnim
-+++++++++++++++++++
-
-The tarball of the source code for NetAnim is available here:
-`<http://www.nsnam.org/~jpelkey3/NetAnim.tar.gz>`_. Download it, then untar
-it:::
-
- tar -xzvf NetAnim.tar.gz
-
-Building NetAnim
-++++++++++++++++
-
-NetAnim uses a Qt4 build tool called qmake; this is similar to the configure
-script from autotools in that it generates the Makefile, which make then uses to
-build the project. qmake is different on different versions of Qt, so we'll
-provide some additional information that is system dependent. You can check your
-default version of qmake:::
-
- qmake --version
- Qmake version: 1.07a (Qt 3.3.8b)
- Qmake is free software from Trolltech ASA.
-
-If you see something like the above, where it says Qt 3.x.x, find the
-qt4 version of qmake on your system and explicitly call it instead.
-
-In general,::
-
- cd NetAnim
- qmake
- make
-
-On Mac OSX,::
-
- cd NetAnim
- /usr/local/Trolltech/Qt-4.x.y/bin/qmake
- make
-
-Note that above, the x.y is the specific version of Qt4 you are running. As of
-April 1st 2009, the latest version is 4.5.0, although you might have an older
-version already installed.
-
-On Ubuntu/Debian with Qt3 AND Qt4,::
-
- cd NetAnim
- qmake-qt4
- make
+For detailed instructions on installing "NetAnim" and loading the XML trace file
+(mentioned earlier) using NetAnim please refer:
+http://www.nsnam.org/wiki/index.php/NetAnim